T
-
ill Corps Staff Overthrown
By One-Day ‘Confederacy
Take
THE BATTALION
Tuesday, April 2, 1968 College Station, Texas
Page 3
By JOHN FULLER
Battalion Managing Editor
Members of Corps Staff awoke
Monday morning to find them
selves under house arrest, victims
of a bloodless “coup” by Brigade
and Wing commanders.
The April Fool’s Day prank,
complete with “Mission: Impos
sible” overtones, was one of the
most elaborately-planned ven
tures into “good bull” in recent
years. Traditional April 1 “Fish
Day” activities in which fresh
men and sophomores supposedly
change roles for one day were
virtually overshadowed by re
minders that the Corps was being
run by a “junta” composed of
cadet colonels.
First general knowledge of the
coup came at morning formation,
when Corps Staff’s regular march
down the quadrangle was re
placed by a formation of the four
commanders—John R. Baldridge,
First Wing; Richard L. Engel,
Second Wing; John W. Morgan,
First Brigade, and Carl Feducia,
Second Brigade. Following them
were Wing and Brigade colors,
plus a Stars and Bars flag repre
senting their “Confederacy.”
CORPS STAFF officers and
sergeants had been barricaded in
to their rooms by “armed” fresh
men, under orders from the junta.
Baldridge reported junta’s actions
on the Duncan Hall intercom dur
ing morning chow, quoting “Spe
cial Order Number 1” which had
been readied for distribution on
captured Corps Staff mimeo
graph machine.
“All members of Corps Staff
shall consider themselves under
house arrest, and restricted to
quarters except when attending
class,” the order read. “This is
in accordance with Article 29,
Articles of the Cadet Corps. All
members of Corps Staff will not
wear rank on their collars, and
Corps Staff Commanders will not
wear green tabs. Corps Staff
Commanders are relieved of all
responsibility and authority.”
A “MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE”
flavor was added in the last para
graph: “This coup will remain
effective until 1930 hours 1 April
68, at which time this order will
self-destruct.”
Under terms of the order,
Corps Staff was allowed to attend
noon and evening formations un
der an “armed” guard, led by the
cadet colonels.
At evening chow, Corps Adju
tant Francis Bourgeois an
nounced the return to power at
7:31 p.m. of the “legitimately-
designated leaders,” to be fol
lowed by a court-martial of the
coup leaders by Corps Com
mander Lonnie C. Minze.
The tribunal declared the four
leaders guilty of high treason and
sentenced them to “execution by
firing squad” early this morning.
The colonels were to meet near
the Corps Staff dormitory in
fatigues, prisoner-of-war style,
where they were scheduled to re
ceive two volleys each of four
ten-gallon trash cans of water.
FLORSHEIM SHOES
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SHOP
JOYCE'S
Maternity
Infants
Ladies
Petites
Girls
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JOYCE’S
608 Texas
BSU TALENT SHOW
Lawrence Lippke and Bob Wilkerson, White Band juniors,
sing “The Dangling Conversation” at the Baptist Student
Union Talent Show Saturday night. Money raised by the
show will be used to sponsor two summer missionaries
from A&M.
Bulletin Board
TODAY
The Agronomy Society will
finalize plans for the Cotton
pageant at 7:15 p.m. in Room 105
of the Agronomy Building.
The American Marketing So
ciety will meet at 7:30 p.m. in
Rooms 3B-C of the Memorial
Student Center.
The Southern Louisiana Home
town Club will discuss an Easter
RANGER
“WITH DEEP SORROW”
John Baldridge, First Wing commander, drops the “coup
bombshell” on the Cadet Corps at Monday breakfast in
Duncan. Baldridge, Carl Feducia, Bill Morgan and Rich
Engel were the leaders of the bloodless coup.
(Continued From Page 1)
dents than Reveille III, the close
ly-guarded official mascot. Rev
is a 21-month-old Collie.
During his time on campus,
Ranger III established himself as
quite a character.
He often showed up in class
painted in wild colors. His pic
ture was printed in papers across
the nation after a Battalion spe
cial photographer caught him
trying to pull the lever on a dorm
itory candy machine.
One of Ranger Ill’s last ex
periences was getting thrown out
of the A&M-SMU basketball game
for interfering with play. Earlier
in the evening, he stood over the
SMU bench and growled and
barked as each of the school’s
players was introduced.
party at 8 p.m. in the lobby of
the Memorial Student Center.
The Texas Student Education
Association will have a constitu
tional meeting at 7:30 p.m. in
Rooms 2C-D of the Memorial
Student Center.
The Meteorology Seminar will
hear Dr. William P. Lowry, As
sistant Professor of Biometeor
ology at Oregon State speak on
a generalized micrometeorological
energy budget at 3 p.m. in Room
305 of Goodwin Hall.
WEDNESDAY
The Finance Society will meet
at 7:30 p.m. in Room 202 of
Francis Hall.
The Hillel Club will see films
of the Cotton Bowl at 7:30 p.m.
at the Hillel Foundation.
JOHNSON
(Continued From Page 2)
dent was forced to step out of
the picture because the American
situation in South Vietnam was
becoming hopeless.
But seven or eight months can
be a long time. If the bombing
cutback generates sufficient pres
sure on Hanoi from some who
have been supporting its war
effort, talks before long are en
tirely possible.
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. i
Celebrating - Our 50th Anniversary
GREAT ISSUES & POLITICAL FORUM
WILL ACCEPT APPLICATIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP
TONIGHT
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We're Talking About:
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